Tide vs. wind left no usable sailing opportunity Friday, and only a limited opportunity Saturday. Given that the forecast looks poor for a number of days forward, and impending travel for me, this might be the last chance for me to sail for a while, so I took it.

6.4 was nearly enough sail, but things were ebbing quickly and I did not trust the depth enough to dial in for much speed going out (starboard tack).

On port tack where I was retracing nearly the same path where I had just proven safe depth, and with enough westerly in the wind direction to make it a bit more downwind, and with the wind not too variable, I was dialed in fairly well and planing.

Given the shallow conditions, I spotted a couple of good-sized bat rays and a fleeting glimpse of what might have been a small leopard shark.

Sadly the best wind came only after there was too little water: the prospect of an unpleasant mud walk or rip-rap climb to get out, even if I could have gotten over to and stayed in the channel, so I quit a little after noon.

Great day at the stick. Ten people out, some freestylers with 5.2 and a bunch of others with bigger gear. I opted for my old mike's Lab 76 (wide) and a smallish 6.6 that turned out to work great: planed happily and easily from 2 to 4pm and could cross to Sierra Point. Fun!!!! Time to get big gear guys!

Started out at about noon on a 4.7 and 85ltr JP Freestyle Wave....small chop and marginal winds but cranked up at around 2:00 so went down to the 78ltr JP and was able to find some pretty sweet bumps (10-12 ft.) to ride down.

Fully planning except on the inside from 1:15-2:30. Could have sailed longer but I was exausted from dozens and dozens of carving tricks. Decided to do a quick de-rig and hit the commuter lane home for a 15 minute ride instaed of 45 minutes.

The PA sensor didn't do the outside wind justice. If you review Moffett and SJO you'll see gusting to 20+. The farther you went to the deep water channel the windier it got. I could have used my 5.8 easily. Would have rerigged if there were other Dawgs to sail out farther.

There were lulls of about 15-30 seconds between the very steady gusts of 2-3 minutes. And I mean STEADY gusts. As steady as any thermal we get at PA.

Water and air were warm for this time of year. I was getting overheated with my 5/3 winter suit. Fingers and toes never felt a chill.

Cowells and InsidePleasurePoint are the two most frequented, probably due to decent parking. Side onshore, not wave riding, but more bump than the Harbor.
Berkeley and Larkspur also proved windy, with swells at RichmondBridge easily shoulder high, or logo high in windsurfer terms. The high tide and SE wind direction made the swells really nice where the bridge is low to the water.

People were riding it . The reach is between the cliff and wharf. Windsurfers usually launch at the Indicator stairs best on a - tide with some beach showing. The Cowells stairs are in the land shadow of the cliffs but people sometimes use that to. I happened to be looking at the Surfline Cam for Cowells when I spotted some action at 4:30 to late for me to get to it but went down and watched. This happens a few times each Winter.
Right 11/29/2012 my mistake.

If you can find a copy of Force 10 the movie there are some shots
of people windsurfing the Lane and Pleasure Point in the early 90's
but its not in the Winter from with a South Wind.

Last edited by ctuna on Fri Nov 30, 2012 1:24 am; edited 1 time in total

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